Happy Sabbath

The Bible tells us in John 4:4, that Jesus and his disciples needed to pass through the land of Samaria to reach their next destination. Now Samaria was a place that the Jews didn't like. Normally, the Jewish people would travel far out of their way just to avoid touching their foot on the soil of Samaria. Samaria was unclean - it was Dirty!"

Since Miss Davis had captured all the students' attention, she proceeded with the story a little slower. "When Jesus arrived at a place called Jacob's Well, he was tired and needed a rest. The time was the "sixth hour" or around noon, the hottest part of the day. Needing something to eat, Jesus sent his disciples to find some food.

While his disciples were gone, the Bible says that a woman from Samaria came to the well to get some water. Now before we go any further," Miss Davis interrupted her story, "let me tell you about this woman.

"All the women of the town always came to the well in the early morning to get their water. The day was cooler and, besides, all the other women were there and they had a good chance to visit and talk to one another. The only women who didn't go in the morning, were the women that were considered sinful or dirty.

"This woman that Jesus met was one of the sinful, dirty women. Because of her sinful life, she wasn't allowed to get water when all the other women came to the well. She had to wait until no one else was around."

Miss Davis had watched each child nod his head in agreement that this woman was a sinful and dirty woman. Then she began again. "When the woman reached the well, Jesus asked her to give him something to drink. The woman was shocked! She actually asked Jesus why he had even talked to her.

"Now Jesus didn't wrinkle up his nose and call her a dirty sinner. Jesus instead spoke kindly to her in a riddle. He said, "Woman, if you knew to whom you were talking, the gift of God, you would ask me to give you to drink and I would have given you Living Water."

"Of course, this puzzled the woman. Jesus had just asked her to give him a drink, and now he said he could give her water. She arrogantly replied that the well was deep and Jesus had no way of drawing out water to give her. She then stated, "Are you greater than Jacob who gave us this well?"

"Jesus looked at her and kindly explained, "He who drinks of this well watershall thirst again. But the water that I shall give will cause you to never thirst again. It will be a well of water springing up into everlasting life!"

"At this the woman begged Jesus to give her his water. But Jesus replied that first she should go bring her husband to meet him. Sadly the woman answered that she had no husband. Jesus, knowing all, replied that she had answered him correctly because she had had 5 husbands, and the man she was living with was not her husband.

"What guilt the woman must have felt!" Miss Davis declared. "This is why she was at the well at noon. She was wicked and dirty! Everyone hated her!"

"You see, Jesus already knew she was a sinful woman, and she already knew it, too. But Jesus did not come to the world to condemn sinners, but to call them to righteousness.

"After talking further with the woman, Jesus revealed that he was the Messiah, the Savior of the World." Miss Davis smiled. "The woman instantly ran into the city and began telling everyone about the man at the well who knew all about her and still talked kindly to her. She told them that this was the Christ!"

"The Bible says that the whole town came out to meet him and asked him to stay with them in their town. Because of his kindness, Jesus stayed, and by his words and the woman's testimony, the Bible says that many received Jesus as their Savior."

"What a wonderful story!" Greg had declared to his teacher.

"Just one more thing," Miss Davis spoke up. "When the disciples came back with the food, to Jesus at the well, they were amazed that he was talking to such a sinful woman, but they knew better than to ask him why. After the woman had left to go into the town, the disciples came closer to Jesus and offered him the meat they had bought.

"To their surprise, Jesus said he wasn't hungry. He felt full because he had done the wonderful will of God. Finally Jesus spoke to his disciples and told them that the time to win souls to the Lord was short and they needed to work hard. Sometimes they would win someone to the Lord and sometimes someone else later would lead them to the Lord, but the goal was to witness to everyone."